Method of boresight alignment of a weapon

ABSTRACT

A method of aligning the boresight of a weapon in which the method comprises mounting an aiming light on a boresight mechanism that is attached to the weapon. A canister, which has the same diameter and general shape of a cartridge that the weapon fires and has a light emitting source and beam width narrowing projecting lens therein, is inserted in the breech of the weapon to provide a narrow beam boresight light along the true boresight of the weapon. Battery leads are connected to the light emitting source with the ground lead secured to an end cap of the canister and the hot lead connected to the light emitting source. The battery is located in the aiming light housing. The operator aligns the aiming light with the boresight of the weapon appropriately adjusting the aiming light beam with respect to the boresight light beam, and observing the position of the reflected lights from a target through a viewing scope. The canister may be pulled out of the breech by pulling on the battery leads.

United States Patent [1 1 1111 3,72,32 Hacskaylo Jan. 1, 1974 METHOD OF BORESIGHT ALIGNMENT OF Primary Ex aminer-Ronald L. Wibert A WEAPON Assistant ExaminerPaul K. Godwin [75] lnventorr Michael Hacskaylo, Falls Church, Attorney-Harry Saragovltz et [57 ABSTRACT Assignee: The United States of America as A method of aligning the boresight of a weapon in represented U the secretary of the which the method comprises mounting an aiming light Army Washmgtoni on a boresight mechanism that is attached to the 22 Filed; Apr. 12 973 weapon. A canister, which has the same diameter and general shape of a cartridge that the weapon fires and [21] Appl. No.: 350,659 has a light emitting source and beam width narrowing projecting lens therein, is inserted in the breech of the 52 US. Cl 356/153, 356/138, 356/140, Weapon to Provide a narrow beam boresight light 33 234 along the true boresight of the weapon. Battery leads [51 1m. (:1. G0lb 11/26 are connected to the light emitting source with the {58] Field of Search 356/138, 140, 153, ground lead Secured to an end p of the Canister and 356/241; 33/233 234 24 the hot lead connected to the light emitting source. The battery is located in the aiming light housing. The [56] References Ci d operator aligns the aiming light with the boresight of UNITED STATES PATENTS the weapon appropriately adjusting the aiming light beam with respect to the boreslght light beam, and ob- 5"?"5'5; serving the position of the reflected lights from a tar- 1/1973 z 356/153 get through a viewing scope. The canister may be pulled out of the breech by pulling on the battery leads.

5 IQC'F'H'E; yrawinsl a res TO BATTERY PATENTED JAN H974 METHOD OF BORESIGHT ALIGNMENT OF A WEAPON The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present method is an improvement over known methods of boresight alignment of weapons. In the present method the operator uses a head worn viewing scope to observe the positions of a boresight light and an aiming light that is reflected off a target. The present method comprises mounting an aiming light having a light emitting source therein onto a boresight mechanism that is attached to the weapon and inserting a canister, with the same diameter and general shape of a shell that is fired in the weapon and which contains a light emitting source and beam width narrowing projecting lens therein, into the breech of the weapon. The operator aligns and positions the aiming light beam with respect to the boresight light beam in order to achieve the appropriate acquisition of the target. The aiming light beam and the boresight light beam may both be produced by laser diodes. Typical laser diodes used in producing the appropriate narrow light beams could be a gallium aluminum arsenide diodes.

The canister is manufactured to fit snugly into the breech of the particular weapon being aligned. It is inserted into the breech by hand and is removed after boresight alignment by pulling on the battery leads connected to the canister. The battery leads may be connected directly to a light emitting diode or connected to an electron pulser circuit which is attached to and pulses the diode within the canister. The other end of the battery leads are connected to a battery inside the aiming light housing.

The boresight mechanism between the weapon and the aiming light comprises an aiming light adapter and a weapons adapter with tongue and groove connections therebetween. The aiming light beam emitted from the aiming light is positioned relative to the boresight light by adjusting a horizontal adjusting means and a vertical adjusting means on the aiming light adapter, which respectively'adjusts the aiming light beam in the horizontal and vertical directions. The canister is then removed from the breech and the battery leads are disconnected from the aiming light. The weapon is then ready to fire using the aiming light beam as the boresight of the weapon. If the weapon is desired for nighttime firing, the weapon may be aligned using infrared spectrum light emitting diodes and night vision goggles headworn by the operator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows the aiming light mounted on the weapon with its output light beam and the output light beam from a diode within a canister that is inserted in the breech of the weapon;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cutaway view of the canister inserted within the breech of a weapon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 illustrates a weapon 12 shown as it would be held by an operator wearing a headworn viewing scope (with the operator not shown) in which the aiming light beam Al from aiming light 10 and boresight light beam Cl from a light emitting canister 16, which is inserted in the breech of weapon 12 are positioned relative to each otherwith beam A1 positioned slightly above beam Cl on a target that is a median firing distance from the weapon. FIG. 2 illustrates the canister 16 fully inserted into the breech 18 of weapon 12. The canister 16 is inserted from the right-hand side of weapon 12 (which is not visible in FIG. 1). Difierent size canisters 16 are provided for each caliber weapon to insure that the canister fits snugly in the breech, and that beam Cl travels along the center of bore 20. Even though muzzle sight 30 is shown in the direct line of beam A1, beam All actually passes over the muzzle sight.

The aiming light 10 of the present invention comprises a d.c. battery, such as a silver mercury battery of about 11.2 volts of open circuit voltage, a pulser (which is an optional feature), alight emitting diode, which may be an electron injection laser diode such as a gallium aluminum arsenide single heterojunction close confinement structure doped for an emission radiation wavelength of 8,500 A, having a continuous output light beam therefrom when the battery is connected directly thereto or has a pulsing output light beam therefrom if the battery is connected to the pulser with the pulser output driving the diode. The aiming light also comprises a double-convex projecting lens that narrows the beamwidth of the continuous or pulsing aiming light beam emitted from the diode and projects this beam out the front of the aiming light toward a target. The double-convex projecting lens is coated for transmission at 8,500 A commensurate with the chosen radiated wavelength of the diode. The aiming light further comprises battery leads for connection to either a pulser or directly to a diode within canister 16. The components within canister 16 are similar to the components within aiming light 10. If a pulser is used in the aiming light, the pulser is proposed to comprise an internal clock, such as a flip-flop circuit, that has complementary metallic oxide semiconductor circuitry to insure output pulses of sufficient amplitude therefrom even if the battery voltage drops.

The aiming light adapter of the boresight mechanism comprises horizontal and vertical boresight adjusting means, such as horizontal and vertical boresight adjusting knobs and locking screws. The aiming light adapter 40 is moulded to aiming light 10. A vertical housing plate 65 serves as a butter between the portion of the aiming light adapter moulded to the aiming light and a grooved portion of the aiming light adapter that is tongue-and-grooved to the weapons adapter 34. Explaining connection and adjustment of the boresight mechanism in more detail, the weapons adapter 34 is secured to the carrying handle 32 of weapon 12 by an aligning pin moving and securing a paul into the carrying handle 32 and causing pressure between the carrying handle and the muzzle portion of the weapon. The aligning pin is moved by weapons adapter securing knob 38. Weapons adapter 34 has the tongue portion of a tongue-and-groove connection between the weapons adapter and aiming light adapter.

With the weapons adapter secured to the weapon and the groove portion of the aiming light adapter locked into the tongue-and-groove by an aiming light adapter locking knob 14, the aiming light is ready for an operator to adjust the aiming light beam horizontally and vertically. First, a vertical boresight adjusting knob 62 has a screw threaded stem that threads through the moulded portion and into the vertical housing plate 65. By turning knob 62, aiming light pivots about vertical pivot 67 that passes through the moulded portion and plate 65. When beam Al is properly positioned with respect to beam C1 by adjusting knob 62 (with the method of producing beam Cl discussed hereinbelow), vertical locking screw 66 is screw threaded into the moulded portion and locks vertical housing plate 65 to the moulded portion. After plate 65 and the moulded portion are locked together by screw 66, plate 65 may pivot about a horizontal pivot (not shown) that passes through the tongue portion of the aiming light adapter at about the middle of the tongue portion. A horizontal boresight adjusting knob 64 has a screw threaded stem that threads through plate 65 and into the tongue portion. The adjustment of knob 64 pivots plate 65, and therefore the aiming light that is attached thereto by screw 66, in the horizontal direction. Beam A1 is thus aligned in the horizontal direction.

Operation of canister 16 is explained hereinbelow. The components within canister 16 are similar to the elements within the aiming light 10. The pulser circuit may be omitted. and also projecting lens 28 is generally smaller than in aiming light 10 since the side wall of bore 20 functions as a further beam narrowing means for beam C1. Canister 16 has a battery lead 22 connected to the pulser that feeds back to the battery within the aiming light housing. The same battery within the aiming light housing there ore activates the light emitting sources in both the aiming light and the canister. Diode 26 is shown attached to pulser 24 by circular vector clip 27. The outer portion of canister 16 is grounded by a ground lead from battery lead 22 soldered thereto at connection 23. The internal section of pulser 24 is activated by potential from the battery at connection 29. The potential on the internal section of 24 and to the pulser (or directly to the diode) in the aiming light may be either positive or negative. The pulser comprises electronic thick-film and thin-film hybrid circuitry constructed on ceramic substrates 25a and 25b. The hybrid circuitry produces pulses that are applied through vector clip 27 to the input of diode 26.

The dimensions of the aiming light housing are 6.25 inches in length, 0.78 inch in diameter at end cap 13 and 1.2 inches diameter at the projecting lens end of the aiming light. The weight of the aiming light is 6.35 ounces, and the weight of the aiming light adapter is 4.58 ounces.

An alternative connection for the driving power to both diodes simultaneously could be by using only the pulser in the aiming light and then pick-off the pulsing signal from its vector clip and feed out the aiming light housing directly to the diode in the canister using the shortest feed lead possible to avoid power loss to the canister diode. Another method used to avoid using a pulser in the canister is to connect the diode in the aiming light to one side of a flip-flop circuit in the pulser within the aiming light and connect the diode in the canister to the other side of the flip-flop circuit. I claim:

1. A method of aligning the boresight of a weapon, the steps comprising:

inserting a canister into the breech of said weapon,

said canister containing a light emitting source for providing a boresight light beam along the boresight of said weapon;

mounting an aiming light on said weapon, said aiming light containing a light emitting source for providing an aiming light beam in a general parallel relationship with said boresight light beam;

providing an aiming light aligning means wherein said aligning means appropriately positions said aiming light beam with respect to the said boresight light beam when reflected from a target at a median firing distance;

providing a viewing scope that is head worn by an operator for observing the relative positions of said aiming light beam and said boresight light beam; and

removing said canister from the breech of said weapon leaving said aiming light mounted on said weapon for providing boresight alignment of said weapon.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said canister has the same diameter and general shape as a cartridge fired in said weapon.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said aiming light comprises a battery and an electronic pulser that produces output pulses for pulsing said light emitting source and a projecting lens for narrowing the beam width of said aiming light beam emitted from said light emitting source.

4. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said light emitting source is a light emitting diode.

5. A method as set forth in claim 4 wherein said light emitting diode is a gallium aluminum arsenide laser diode.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said light emitting source of said canister is a light emitting diode and said canister further comprises a battery lead connected between said light emitting source and said battery within said aiming light and a projecting lens that narrows the beam width of said boresight light beam.

7. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein said light emitting diode is a gallium aluminum arsenide laser diode.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7 wherein said canister further comprises an electronic pulser circuit connected between said battery lead and said gallium aluminum arsenide laser diode for pulsing said diode.

9. A method as set forth in claim 8 wherein said aiming light aligning means comprises an aiming light adapter connected to a weapons adapter, said aiming light adapter further comprising a vertical boresight adjusting means and a horizontal boresight adjusting means thereon for aligning said aiming light beam with said boresight light beam.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 wherein said vertical and horizontal boresight adjusting means comprises a vertical boresight adjusting knob with a screw threaded stem for moving the aiming light in the vertical direction and a vertical locking screw for securing said vertical boresight adjusting knob and a horizontal boresight adjusting knob with a screw threaded stem for moving the aiming light in the horizontal direction and a horizontal locking screw for securing said horizontal boresight adjusting knob. 

1. A method of aligning the boresight of a weapon, the steps comprising: inserting a canister into the breech of said weapon, said canister containing a light emitting source for providing a boresight light beam along the boresight of said weapon; mounting an aiming light on said weapon, said aiming light containing a light emitting source for providing an aiming light beam in a general parallel relationship with said boresigHt light beam; providing an aiming light aligning means wherein said aligning means appropriately positions said aiming light beam with respect to the said boresight light beam when reflected from a target at a median firing distance; providing a viewing scope that is head worn by an operator for observing the relative positions of said aiming light beam and said boresight light beam; and removing said canister from the breech of said weapon leaving said aiming light mounted on said weapon for providing boresight alignment of said weapon.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said canister has the same diameter and general shape as a cartridge fired in said weapon.
 3. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said aiming light comprises a battery and an electronic pulser that produces output pulses for pulsing said light emitting source and a projecting lens for narrowing the beam width of said aiming light beam emitted from said light emitting source.
 4. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said light emitting source is a light emitting diode.
 5. A method as set forth in claim 4 wherein said light emitting diode is a gallium aluminum arsenide laser diode.
 6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said light emitting source of said canister is a light emitting diode and said canister further comprises a battery lead connected between said light emitting source and said battery within said aiming light and a projecting lens that narrows the beam width of said boresight light beam.
 7. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein said light emitting diode is a gallium aluminum arsenide laser diode.
 8. A method as set forth in claim 7 wherein said canister further comprises an electronic pulser circuit connected between said battery lead and said gallium aluminum arsenide laser diode for pulsing said diode.
 9. A method as set forth in claim 8 wherein said aiming light aligning means comprises an aiming light adapter connected to a weapons adapter, said aiming light adapter further comprising a vertical boresight adjusting means and a horizontal boresight adjusting means thereon for aligning said aiming light beam with said boresight light beam.
 10. A method as set forth in claim 9 wherein said vertical and horizontal boresight adjusting means comprises a vertical boresight adjusting knob with a screw threaded stem for moving the aiming light in the vertical direction and a vertical locking screw for securing said vertical boresight adjusting knob and a horizontal boresight adjusting knob with a screw threaded stem for moving the aiming light in the horizontal direction and a horizontal locking screw for securing said horizontal boresight adjusting knob. 